San Diegans are living in a complicated place during a tricky time, so who can we trust with a discussion of immigration and the border in the age of Donald Trump’s wall? A panel of well-informed local experts, or the guy with the fart jokes?

As it turns out, the answer is “both of the above,” and you won’t have to wait long to find out why.

The free event is part of MOPA’s “Community Conversation” series. Doors open at 6 p.m. The talking starts at 6:30. Tickets are at: mopa.org/pcp.

Also on Thursday, the Comedy Central cable network is airing “Jeff Ross Roasts the Border: Live from Brownsville, Texas.” The one-hour “docu-comedy” special — which airs at 10 p.m. — cuts between Ross’ stand-up comedy show at the Texas/Mexico border and his interviews with undocumented immigrants, law-enforcement agents, Trump supporters and even an immigrant-smuggling coyote.

The MOPA panel discussion is inspired by the museum’s new exhibit, which looks at life in Mexico through the very different lenses of 19 contemporary Mexican photographers.

The panel will feature thought-provoking insights about life on the border from Osvaldo Ruiz of the Border Angels immigrant-support organization, blogger and photographer Jill Marie Holslin, and lawyer Dulce Garcia, who specializes in Dreamer cases.

The Comedy Central special features Ross’ earnest, Everyguy encounters with people on both sides of the Brownsville border, along with jokes guaranteed to offend viewers of all races and political persuasions.

No one is off limits when Ross turns up the comedy heat. Not the Border Patrol, immigrant kids or the local official who has indulged in a few too many Taco Tuesdays.

“You’re the size of your own sanctuary city!” Ross crows.

One of these things is definitely not like the other, but both the funny cable show and the serious museum event make the same point. When it comes to issues as many-sided as immigration and cross-border relationships, the more viewing angles the better.

“Comedy can certainly do a lot. It presents a different way for people to look at issues, and it can approach them more frankly than we often do,” said Kevin Linde, MOPA’s adult programs manager.

“Here in the museum and with the visual arts, the potential we have is to provide diverse entry points to people. Different artists can approach topics in different ways, so we can have a more diverse way of looking at a particular issue.”

You can say the same for “Jeff Ross Roasts the Border,” as the genially liberal comedian hunkers down with all kinds of people who look at the issue of immigration in all kinds of ways.

In Brownsville, Ross drives along the border with a local constable who worries about the fate of the immigrants he hands over the Border Patrol while also thinking the U.S. needs to focus on the people who are already here.

Ross talks to some Trump supporters who are in favor of the president’s immigration policies and some who aren’t. There is a heartbreaking conversation with a college-aged Dreamer who didn’t find out she was undocumented until she tried to enlist in the military, and a chilling chat with a coyote about what happens if a client can’t pay for his services.

There is also plenty of time for the roast, in which Ross makes fun of an immigration attorney, a guy in a wheelchair, President Trump, and every ethnic group in attendance, including his own. (“I’m El Chapo’s Jewish cousin. El Cheapo.”)

Ross is not a subtle guy, but he approaches border issues and border people with such good-natured curiosity, he gives us a close-up look at an issue that we often hold at arms-length. Even when we’re wagging our fingers at each other.

“We’re in a time when opinions tend to be polarized, and that can be dehumanizing,” MOPA’s Linde said. “Understanding the culture goes a long way to bringing in the human element. It isn’t just words on the page or a policy anymore.”

Like Ross’ roast, the MOPA exhibit and the conversations it provokes can bring us closer to the things that scare and confuse us. And in this polarizing time, that is where we need to be.